Kelly Dilworth

Kelly Dilworth is a former staff reporter at CreditCards.com. She began her career in journalism at The Atlantic in 2007, then detoured into nonfiction book publishing for several years. She returned to journalism in 2010 and since then has written about everything from 20-somethings with Herculean credit scores to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions.
Kelly holds a degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Austin, TX.
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According to a growing body of research in a field of science called genoeconomics, the size of your bank account -- and the amount of credit card debt you carry -- may be partially determined by your genes.

Having more money in the bank won't make you feel happier on a day-to-day basis, according to a new study. But it might make you less unhappy -- especially if you have enough cash stashed away to feel like you have some control over your circumstances.

According to a new study published in Science magazine, researchers with access to 'anonymized' credit card data -- transactions that have been stripped of personally identifying information -- can piece together who bought what simply by using a few publicly available markers they've collected online, such as geo-tagged tweets and time-stamped Facebook status updates.

Qualifying for a new loan is about to get easier for the millions of Chinese computer users who don't yet have a credit card, but regularly go online to shop, pay bills and invest their personal savings.

Millennials are thumbing their noses at credit cards and traditional banking services, according to multiple reports, and that's making some people in the financial services industry nervous about how they're going to attract such a picky crowd.

The next time you reward your kids for good behavior, you might want to hold off on showering them with toys. According to a forthcoming study in the Journal of Consumer Research, kids who are frequently given material objects in exchange for doing well are more likely to grow up to be materialistic adults.

Ever since we learned we were having a baby last spring, my husband and I have been obsessed with saving money. I'd always imagined enrolling my kids in the same kinds of summer and after-school enrichment programs I enjoyed growing up. But now that our son is here, I'm beginning to realize my own kids may not be so lucky.

For more than a year now, I've been living with constant calls from debt collectors, but the calls are for a man named William. No matter how many times I tell the callers they've got the wrong number, they keep calling back. And now I'm getting robocalls, with no chance of talking to a live person to explain that I'm not William.

As the end of the year approaches, you may be trying to ramp up your charitable donations. Before you give away your hard-earned cash, think twice about where it's going. You may be able to reap more satisfaction from your giving - and maximize your charitable contributions - if you think more strategically about where and how you give.

As the holiday season gets closer, you may notice a growing number of stores trying to tug at your heartstrings -- and your wallet -- by advertising charitable donations alongside traditional holiday promotions.

According to the parenting website, BabyCenter.com, many new moms are bluffing about their financial circumstances on the Web and posting pictures, status updates and videos that make them seem wealthier than they actually are

If Apple Pay and similar mobile payment systems catch on with enough people, it will help undermine the data broker industry, which has been collecting and selling people's purchase histories for years. It may also help attract more privacy and security-conscious cardholders to mobile payments, which have struggled to gain traction with consumers.

U.S. households are more bullish about their personal finances than they've been since 2009, according to a survey released Sept. 29 by Absolute Strategy Research. But a striking number of Americans are still skeptical that the "American Dream" remains intact and that the next generation will be substantially better off.

When a family member told me they're skipping college in order to avoid the extra debt, I couldn't bring myself to tell them that they're making a huge mistake. A lifetime of low earnings makes it tough to get by. But so does crushing debt. Here's what the numbers from new studies say.

Soon after my husband and I found out we were expecting, I drew up a list of "must-have" baby items -- ranging from a car seat and stroller to baby sunscreen. At the time, I thought I was being selective. But when I added everything up, I was shocked: It would cost us nearly $2,000 to purchase the items on my list -- and I hadn't even included diapers and baby clothes, apart from a few basics.

Lenders, potential employers or landlords aren't the only one clamoring for access to your personal credit history. Some health care providers use it to decide whether or not patients can afford costly medical treatment. And even the federal health insurance marketplace, HealthCare.gov, uses it to verify applicants' identities.

If you're struggling to curb your urge to splurge, you may want to keep better track of your recent purchases. A forthcoming study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that impulsive spenders tend to conveniently 'forget' just how much they spent the last time they indulged.

If you're trying to decide whether or not to buy something, you could have a harder time passing it up if it reminds you of a happy moment from your past. According to a new study forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research, feeling nostalgic may cause some people to spend more than they would otherwise.